Pool rack



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(No Model-J H; W. OOLLEINDER.

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No. 296,137. Patented Apr. 1,1884;

munmmm llllllllll' lllllllll UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE-c HUGH W. COLLENDER, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

POOL- RACK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 296,137, datedApril 1, 188

Application filed February 13, 1894. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.- Be it known that I, HUGH W. COLLENDER, of New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented an Improved PoolRack; and I do hereby declare that the following isa full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference beinghad to the accompanyingdrawings, making part of this application.

My invention relates to certain improvements in that type of pool-racks in which it is designed to have all the balls contained on the several shelves successively and rapidly discharged therefrom by mechanical means into some suitable tray or receptacle, in which they are removed by the gamekee'per to the pool-table on which they are to be reused. It has been suggested to make such pool-racks in various ways, in some of whichfor instance, by the empioyment of a series of tipping shelvesall the balls are run down into thereceptacle, and in others'of which the balls are collected from a series of projecting pegs by the use of a receptacle which is slid up and over the face of the pool-rack, and which disengages the balls from the pins of the rack; and in another application for Letters Patent filed by v nc simultaneously with this one is shown and described a pool-rack in which the contents of the several shelvesare discharged into a suitable receptacle placed upon an ascending carriage, the shelves being arranged to vibrate on axes near their forward edges, and being successively turned or flipped up at their rear edges by devices on the said carriage operating for that purpose. f

My present invention has for its object to provide for use a pool-rack in which the contents of the shelves-may be similarly discharged into a suitable tray or receptacle placed on an ascending carriage combined with the rack, but which shall be provided with simple stationary shelves, from which the balls may be thrown forward and outward by the bar combined with said carriage, and operating to strike and throw forward the balls when said carriage shall be moved up, the entire contrivance being thus rendered exceedingly simple and economicof manufacture, and at the same,

time equallyefficient in its operation as any other for an analogous purpose with which I am acquainted.

To this end and object myinventionmay be said to consist, essentially, in the combination, with a simple rack or set of stationary ball shelves, of means for successively throwing forward and off from said shelves the balls contained, thereon, all as will he hereinafter more fullyset forth.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use myinvention, Iwill now proceed to describe the same, referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and in which I have illustrated my inventioncarried out in that form in which I have so far successfully practiced it.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a frontview; Fig. 2, a side view; Fig. 3, a top 'view, and Fig. 4 avertical section at the line 00x ofFig. 1; and in the several figures the same parts will be found designated by the same letter of reference.

The rack proper is composed, as shown, of simply two side pieces, A A, a bottom piece, B, a top or cap, 0, and a back board, D, all securely framed together and provided with a set of horizontal permanent ball-shelves, E These shelves (see Fig. 4) do not extendclear back to the 'back board, D, but are of such width and are so arranged that while their forward edges come nearly or quite-flush with the front edges of the side pieces, A, of the rack their rearmost edges are some distance from the front surface of the back board, D, and each of the said piecesAis provided with a longitudinal slot, a, which, as shown, is located immediately in rear of the back edges of the permanent shelves E, which, in order to insurethe retention of the balls thereon, may either be slightly inclined backward and downward at their top surfaces, or may have these snrfaces,'as shown in Fig. 4, made slightly dishing. Combined with this simple set of shelves is a sliding carriage composed, as shown, of a bottom board,H, end pieces, I, and back strips, J J, all substa'htially as shown. This carriage is also formed or provided with guards or deflector-like devices K, which are preferably padded or cloth-covered, as shown at L, for the purpose of receiving'and deflecting into outer surfaces of the side pieces, A, of the rack,

and said strips J J extend through and work up and down within theslots a of said side pieces, the upper one of said strips J moving whenever the carriage may be moved up and down in a plane which lies immediately in the rear of the back edges of all the shelves E, so that during the ascent of the upper one of said 'strips J J it will necessarily strike or come in contact with any object which may be resting on the top of any one of the shelves E and projecting to any extent over or beyond the rear edge of any such shelf.

The operation of the contrivance so far described, and shown in the drawings, will be understood to be about as follows: Supposing the carriage to' be in its lowermost position and the shelves E to contain more or less of the pool-balls which are to be removed for replacement on the table, the game-keeper simply places or adjusts on the bottom board, H, of said carriage any suitable receptacle in which he desires to collect the contents of the pool-rack, and then simply lifts said carriage upwardly to the proper extent, when the uppermost one of the strips J will, during its ascent, strike the rearwardly-projecting por-' tions of any ballscontained on the shelves E, causing said balls to be thrown or rolled forward and off over thefront edges of said shelves, from whence they will tumble onto the receiving and deflecting surfaces L of the carriage, from whence they will be guided or discharged into the tray or receptacle placed upon the carriage. In this operation of the apparatus the balls from the lowermost shelves will be first thrown out, then those from the next shelf above, and so on upwardly throughout the series, the balls thrown from each shelf having to fall only a very short distance from the shelf onto the receiving and deflecting surfaces L, because during the upward movement of the carriagethese surfaces approach the level of the front edge of each shelf immediately after the uppermost strip J shall have struck and rolled forward the balls contained on said shelf. Preferablyacloth covering or cushion'of some sort is applied, as shown at c, for the purpose of preventing noise when the carriage may be allowed to descend rapidly to its original position, after the collection of all the balls from the shelves of the rack. Of course, the sizes and proportions of the parts, as well as the mere details of construction, may be varied without departing from the spirit of my invention, so long as the construction of the apparatus be substantially the same in principle and involves substantially the same mode of operation as that I have shown and described. For instance, in lieu of the form of stationary shelves shown, and the combined arrangement therewith of a discharging-strip-such as the upper one of those marked Jthe apparatus might be made with simply two rounds or bars placed sufficiently far apart to perform the function of the solid shelvesE, of properly supporting theball or balls placed thereon, and a flipping or discharging ascending bar connected with the carriage might be arranged to pass up and between the pairs of such ballsupp'orting rounds or bars, slightly in rear of the centers of the balls, so as to produce substantially the same effect as that described, of throwing the balls forward and from their resting-places onto the receiving and deflecting surfaces L of the ascending carriage. Such modification or variation I should consider within the scope of my invention.

Having now so fully explained my invention that those skilled in the art may practice it in any form in which it may be carried out, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- In combination with a rack provided with stationary ball supporting shelves or their equivalents, a carriage or device adapted to support anysuitable ball-receptacle, and provided with suitable means for discharging the balls from the shelves or their equivalents whenever, said carriagemay be moved upwardly, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

Invtestimony whereofl have hereunto set my hand'this 6th day of February, 1884.

H. W. COLLENDER. In presence of JACOB FELBEL, EDWARD F. BAYER. 

